#we're so effing winging this

[phuljari]

social media au! part 2

summary : khushi is a model and influencer; arnav just seems to stumble upon her profile one day— not so much by accident. (or what if khushi fell in love at first sight?)

warnings : just some hindi/hinglish, cussing in both languages. deliberate typos. online stalker!shyam. flirting with the boss

a/n : i am...trying something new (by using the word prompts) #IPK 13th Anniversary Fiesta @arshifiesta

hellohibyebye

liked by aakash_r, amanmathur, gulabo_devyani, anjaliiiii.r, mahendrarudrapratapsinghraizada, hari_prakash and 137 others

hellohibyebye haaye! ekdum vaijanthimaala laagat hai hum😍🥰

⚫kaala tika najar na lage e ke khatir⚫

view comments

aakash_r Maa group pe daalne ko bola tha, Instagram pe nahi 🤦

gulabo_devyani Manorama! Ye Hear. hum aapko diye naahi the... Toh kaisan aap pehen liye?

anjaliiiii.r Mamiji 👌😍

mahendrarudrapratapsinghraizada Thoda vakht nikal ke humare saath bhi ek-do photu khichwaye leti!

⤷hellohibyebye aap photo me bilkul handsome.... nahi laagat hai 😒

hari_prakash B//J...K>';edxnnnnddd

iMessage "Raizada Group"

Aakash Maa aapne instagram pe post kar diya 🤦

Manorama toh ka hui gawa? hainn

Mahendra Bohot sundar laagat hai tumhari amma 😊

Akash liked a message

Manorama liked a message

Devyani Humra. Haar. Dena mat bhulna. Onmanorama.

Anjali Arre Aakash, karne do yaar, umar hai inki 😌

HP Ji Naniji, hum abhi wapas rakhwa dete hain

HP hhhhhhhh?/?????

Aakash HP yaar tune firse phone bandh kiye bina pocket me rakh diya... buttdial nahi, yaha toh butt-typo hote hain😶

Anjali 😂😂🤣🤣🤣

Arnav seen

Anjali Chotte yahan bolna mana nahi hai!

Arnav: Di, I'm in a meeting right now. Ttyl

Anjali: Arre, chotte 🤦‍♀️

Manorama added NK to Raizada Group

NK: Hello bhaiyyon aur bhabhiyon

Anjali: Bhabhiyon nahi NK bhai, beheno!

NK: Haan wahi Di! You understand me so well!!

Aakash: 😂😂

Arnav left Raizada Group

NK: Oh no Nannav! Tum kyu chale gaye

Aakash: You know that he can't see the messages now right?

NK: Oh, Whoops! Wait

NK added Arnav to Raizada Group

NK: Nannav mere bhai!! How are you??

Arnav: Isn't it like 3 AM in Sydney?

NK: Nannav, naughty naughty, tumne time check kiya mere liye! So cutee! I'm at your home doofus 😂

Arnav: gtg

Arnav left Raizada Group

iMessage

Anjali: Ye har baat pe chotte group kyu leave kar dete ho?

Arnav: Di! WTF ye NK kya kar raha hai Shantivan me?

Anjali:😶‍🌫️

iMessage

Aman: Sir, we have officially signed Ms. Khushi Kumari Gupta!

Arnav: Good

Arnav: Kumari?

Aman: That's her middle name boss

Arnav: Oh, okay

iMessage

Aakash: Bhai, you signed THE KHUSHI GUPTA??

Arnav: Yes

Arnav: And she's not that popular c'mon

Aakash: Bhai do you even use instagram? 😭

Arnav: Of Course!

Arnav: Btw I have more followers than her 😒 So much for "influencer"

Aakash: That's her personal profile Bhai! You have to see @/thekhushigupta

seen

thekhushigupta

liked by divalavanya, payaliyaa, guptagarima, aakash_r, shyamjha, versace, arnavsinghraizada, saritaraman and 396,981 others

thekhushigupta @/versace thank you for sponsoring my cannes debut

view comments

saritaraman You dancing on hawa hawaii at cannes was the only thing left for me to see😭

⤷thekhushigupta all thanks to you babe <3

payaliyaa My babie sisterrrr 😍

⤷thekhushigupta jijiiiiii 😊

guptagarima Ae Khushi isko chalu kaise karte hai

versace It was our honour! 😍

aakash_r Amazing performance👌

shyamjha khushiji aapka koi boyfriend hai kya? 😭

divalavanya Bestie 💖

⤷thekhushigupta right back at ya! 💖

user1 i love the dressss

user2 just one chance khushi pls pls

user3 it was so cheap idk why ppl idolize u

⤷user1 get tf outta here

shyamjha hosh rubaa😍

nandiii khushi jiiiiii 💘

⤷thekhushigupta nanhe jiiiiii

nandiii

tagged: @/emirates @/anjaliiiii.r @/aakash_r

liked by aakash_r, anjaliiiii.r, gulabo_devyani, mahendrarudrapratapsinghraizada, hari_prakash, hellohibyebye, thekhushigupta and 806 others

nandiii So excited to meet you guys!😭

view comments

anjaliiiii.r Pooja ki thaal tayyar hai NK Bhai

⤷gulabo_devyani Aapan. Ka. hi intezaar hai Bitwa.

mahendrarudrapratapsinghraizada Return flight book karke nikle ho ki naahi?

⤷nandiii Now why would I do that Mausa Ji? 😊

thekhushigupta nanhe ji! iss baar aap mile bina nahi jaa sakte 😌

⤷nandiii Aapse hi toh milne aa rahe hai Khushi ji! It was fun to hangout with you while shooting in Portugal last year! 😊

hellohibyebye humre khaatir oo gucci peck kiye ki naahi?

⤷nandiii Maasi ji aapke liye toh chanel, gucci, versace sab haazir!

hari_prakash Ccooffee lenge?

Notifications (arnavsinghraizada)

thekhushigupta followed you

titaliya_k followed you

payaliyaa followed you

Notifications (thekhushigupta)

arnavsinghraizada followed you back

shyamjha unread 1475 messages

shyamjha commented on your post: hosh rubaa 😍

shyamjha commented on your post: khushiji aapka koi boyfriend hai kya? 😭

usershyam hume aap bohot pasand hai khushiji

iMessage

Khushi: he followed me back omgomgomg

Lavanya: ???

Khushi: ajgar

Khushi: arnav*

Lavanya: 😂😂

Lavanya: You didn't stop talking about him last night oh god

Khushi: i know ur friends were so pissed😭

Lavanya: Nooo, why would you thibk that

Lavanya: And look at you crushing so hard on ASR!

Khushi: you've met?

Lavanya: Briefly

Khushi: 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺

Khushi: I'm gonna slide into his dms wish me luck

Lavanya: Khushi wtf

Lavanya: Khushi come back you son of a bitch

Lavanya: Istg Khushi pls don't make a fool of yourself in front of your new boss😭

Lavanya: Khushiii??????

seen

(1) message from thekhushigupta

thekhushigupta: hey

arnavsinghraizada: Hi?

thekhushigupta: we met the other day

arnavsinghraizada: Yeah, you bumped into me, how can I forget?

thekhushigupta: omg i'm really sorry for that😩

thekhushigupta: can i take you out for an apologetic dinner?

thekhushigupta: tonight?

arnavsinghraizada: Are you...

thekhushigupta: asking you out? yes

arnavsinghraizada liked a message

TBC

<previous> | <next>

[srbachchan]

DAY 5855

Jalsa, Mumbai Feb 28/29, 2024 Wed/Thu 12:04 AM

🪔 ,

Ef birthday for February 29 ..

This birthday wish can happen only once in 4 years .. worldcup ki tarah .. so it's very extra special ..

For .. February 29 .. our greetings to Anagha Sridhar - daughter of Ef Anjana Sridhar .. hope we're saying the name correctly .. her .. errrrm .. 7th birthday - according to the leap year !! .. be happy and always leap with faith and joy .. love from the Ef Family .. 🙏🏻🚩❤️

As you put in the home details there is a sense of belonging and an enlightened demeanour ..

Home is home .. it may be lesser than most , richer than most , non facilitated with the needs of existence , but it is home .. and nothing can ever replace its bearings , latitudes and longitudes .. they are the permanency that nature instills in us all ..

I am home and in a happy environ .. the happiest , and the most desireable ..

.. and the 'pundits ' of the times express to us all the true feel of domesticity :

"Home is the sanctuary where heart and hearth converge, weaving a tapestry of comfort and belonging. It transcends the physical, embodying memories, laughter, and solace. It's the symphony of familiar creaks and the fragrance of shared meals. Home is where acceptance resides, where love unfolds its gentle wings. It cradles dreams in cozy corners and stands resilient amidst life's tempests. More than walls and a roof, it's an intimate mosaic of shared experiences. Home is the compass guiding weary souls, an anchor in the tumultuous sea of existence. It is a refuge, a haven, where the essence of one's true self flourishes."

The last day at work in the elms of the city of Hyderabad, get visited by the exalted genius and his thoughts and expresses, that be mysterious and mystifying - Ram Gopal Varma , alias Ramu ..

And he pours out in a non stop breather conversation on films contents and the much talked about and meticulously practised - AI

Where are we going .. ? a mystery unknown and in its changes and revolutions by the day almost ..

Fact was never looked upon with doubt and scepticism, and disbelief as it is today .. what be real, non fake , is ever up for debate and discuss each hour .. living side by side .. almost complimenting each other .. but never the belief that it be the truest and correct .. information has 'inform' in it for its delivery .. but does it really inform .. or does it simply put out for its content existence .. impotence and all ... as what was expressed some time back in the days of the year gone by ..

And what of failure and despondency or its despondent exist :

"Failure and defeat linger in the recesses of our being, casting long shadows that echo well beyond the moment of setback. The scars of unsuccessful endeavors etch themselves into our psyche, creating a mosaic of resilience and self-discovery. Even when success follows, the remnants of past failures shape our character, fostering humility and tenacity. The memory of defeat, like an indelible watermark, accompanies us on the journey, a constant reminder of our vulnerability and capacity to rise. Yet, within the persistence lies the seed of growth, as failure becomes the fertile ground from which triumph eventually sprouts, transforming setbacks into stepping stones towards a more profound and enduring success."

Ride it .. wave it , breach the continuity .. accept the fresh abound .. and sail onto the barren sands of time , in the balance of dexterity

Amitabh Bachchan

[aziraphales-library]

Hey! I'm not looking for a particular fic and maybe somebody's already asked this, but could you point me the way to kidfics where Crowley is the birthing parent? Idk if I'm just unlucky or bad at searching but it seems like almost all the 'one of them gives birth' fics have Aziraphale as the birth parent...

Hello! We do have a #pregnant crowley tag, so take a look at that. Here are some more fics to add to the collection...

Angel Baby by ARealPip (T)

Crowley is pregnant, and a group of doctors and nurses struggle valiantly to handle the gender-fluid inhuman patient who has suddenly shown up in their offices. Aziraphale does his very best to help put them at their ease. But it all goes a bit strange.

This Miraculous Child (Of Ours) by blackeyedblonde (E)

“Well?” Crowley asks, wretchedly pulling his sunglasses from his face. “Why isn’t your angelic juju doing me one better and nipping whatever this is in the arse?” The fact that Aziraphale has paled some himself and reached up to clutch at the front of his dressing gown doesn’t seem to bode well. “You—you’re with child, Crowley,” he says, just like that, in the messy parlor of this once-scourged effing bookshop in Soho where Crowley thought he’d lost the one thing he ever really cared about, the car be damned, since they unraveled into existence and millennia began.

More to Love by Sodium_Azide (E)

It's a new world, and the beginning of a new era. Crowley has never been happier in his long life, but, (ain't there always a but) he has his angel, he has his freedom, he has his Bentley and the whole world to explore, but he still wants more. Unexpectedly, he gets it. (an ineffable family fic)

The Way We're Made by dsaun (E)

After the almost-apocalypse, Crowley and Aziraphale attempt to settle back into their old routines. What they don't know is that their meddling in the great plan has piqued the creator's curiosity and she has other ideas. A drunken evening causes ineffable consequences and turns everything upside down.

beyond the river jordan by blackeyedblonde (E)

“I think it’s time we try and do the thing,” is what Crowley says, when the words finally wing up out of him one morning. “Do what, dear?” Aziraphale asks as he takes a scrubbing brush to the skillet they’d made eggs in. Behind them, Dove is smearing oatmeal and a bit of scramble around her highchair tray, blabbing good-naturedly in her little singsong voice while morning sunlight slants in just enough to make her strawberry hair shine like rose gold. “You know,” Crowley grunts, drying an antique porcelain plate with a particular furor that makes it consider breaking, though it wouldn’t dare so much as chip with the angel in the room. “Uh. Try again—for a baby. But swapped ‘round a bit so I do all the cooking.” Aziraphale calmly keeps up with his washing, though a little smile plays around his mouth and then gradually grows a bit wider. “Ah,” he says all too knowingly, which makes Crowley’s stomach lurch. “I’d been wondering when you’d feel ready to bring that up again.”

The Birds and the Bees for Ineffable Idiots by DarkAngel2891 (T)

Crowley doesn't know how reproduction works. Aziraphale is at a loss for words. Whatever the two where expecting it wasn't this. God ships Crowley and Aziraphale.

- Mod D

[c1qfxugcgy0]

Hey, fun fact! You know the Boeing EA-18G Growler?

huh?

You know, the EA/18G, the dedicated electronic warfare version of the Boeing F/A-18 naval combat aircraft.

wha?

Okay, you know how the United States has a really big military? Well, it's so big that we have three separate fixed wing combat aviation forces: the United States Air Force, the United States Navy, and the United States Marines. Most countries have only one, because they're stinking un-airconditioned europoors, but we have three, because we're the best country in the world.

(The Marines? Yes! If they were their own country the Marines would have the fifth largest air force in the world. They have their own F-35 variant, the F-35B, which they operate off their own mini-carriers. And, again, the United States has more of those helicopter carriers than the rest of the world, combined.)

okay

Seriously, Italians don't even put ice in their water. And that's not the worst thing--

you were talking about airplanes

Oh yeah. Well, every air force has electronic warfare aircraft, planes that jam radar and communications signals. Remember the opening salvo of the Gulf War, where the US flew airstrikes against Bagdad, the most heavily defended city in the world, but effortlessly evaded Saddam's hopelessly outdated Soviet anti-air batteries using the F-117's stealth abilities? That flight of F-117s were accompanied by three EF-111A electronic warfare aircraft! Entirely conventional 70s-era airframes, but they waltzed through radar just as well as cutting-edge stealth. Nobody knows about this!

And I think this is by design. Electronic warfare is a peculiarly ephemeral form of combat. Radar jamming only works if you know the frequencies and periods of enemy equipment. It is beneficial to the United States to announce an insurmountable lead in stealth, an intrinsic, material property of an aircraft structure, and downplay EW, which can be defeated with a turn of the dial. Maintaining effective EW capabilities requires constant surveillance of of enemy radar systems and intimate knowledge of their internal workings. I think it is no coincidence that fully half of the satellites that the NRO launches aren't visible-light telescopes at all, but ELINT signals interception birds!

thats crazy

If you think that's crazy, just wait! You see those things hanging off the wings up there?

uh huh

That's the AN/ALQ-99 EW pod. The Growler itself has some electronics, but most of the transmit power come from the the 99's. It originally entered service in 1972 with the EA-6B, a late sixties design. Early combat aircraft didn't exactly have a lot of spare electrical power, and each 99 can radiate up to 10.8 kilowatts of radio. Where does the power come from?

The propeller at the front. It's a ram air turbine.

what the fuck

The Growler can carry up to five of them at once! Wikipedia notes it "reduc[es] the Growler's top speed." Yeah, no shit! You're shoving a damn windmill through the sky!

[mantisgodsart]

[Tonight I dreamed of teeth and claws and what felt like a million grasping hands chasing me through an endless field. The air smelled of sulphur and acid, and I could tell something was watching me, far beneath the moss and earth.

I woke to find I had been shedding wing scales in my sleep, and that apparently one of my primary containment chambers was registering a foreign presence within it. The only thing there when I checked, however, was Mal, who is supposed to be there - and certainly not supposed to be registering as an intruder.

I hope I don't have to update containment over this. Rescribing every little knot in the weave every time I need to strengthen or add to it gets tiring, when you have to do it multiple times a month. Maybe I should start looking for an apprentice again, if only so I don't have to maintain the entire laboratory myself.

There's an old joke about this sort of thing, charmsmiths only getting an apprentice when they need to make sure someone's take down notes about the experiment that kills them. I'd like to think it's more simply making sure that my knowledge doesn't die with me...]

One of the two left over from @bug-oc Round 1, Mal from @sushiikando gets a post all to their own, just like a Round 2 contestant! This is both because zey're a big/complicated design and because we... really aren't gonna be done Pola any time soon. Which is probably what we get for making a comic, even a short comic, while in the time of summer where we actively struggle to think. Oh, well. We'll get it done eventually.

More details under cut, as usual - despite our enthusiasm for walls of text, we don't particularly want to completely obliterate your dashboard. We're getting kicked in the dick by fatigue right now, so further ones might take a bit - we've got Maria sketched out, and Pola's comic only really needs painting and accompanying story, so all fates willing, it shouldn't be too too much of a holdup. There's an abundance of things that we would LOVE to be doing right now, but heat does awful things to our brain, we're still feeling off from being sick, and with tourism season in swing to boot even with our current medication it's an uphill battle to get ourself to do anything at the moment. Hopefully, this clears up soon. For now, we're still very much alive.

First things first - wow, this one took a few drafts. Although not really an originally anticipated difficulty, the lack of reference of just what Mal looks like under that coat made a lot of our original ideas fall a bit flat unless we wanted to make something up from whole cloth. Marigold's transmutations don't include clothes by default, since actively incorporating inanimate objects into an animate body is both difficult and much, much fussier than usual when you're using Marigold's particular methods.

We tried a few initial designs that stopped at that point, then tried at incorporating the coat into the design more properly a la the more "abstract" brews, but after a few fell flat, we sort of... just started throwing spaghetti at the wall, so to speak, and spaghetti stuck. The body patterns here are, for the most part, entirely made up. Maybe the patterns distorted, maybe they didn't - we don't know what's under the coat and we will likely never learn. It's probably fine.

Our primary inspiration here is eastern dragons, particularly the mythos of the koi who climbed the waterfall - the colors and patterns of Mal's design reminded us of koi patterns on first glance, and after a few drafts, we started running with the concept, using both Mal's wings and the shape of the lab coat for "fins". Runaway To The Stars's Bug Ferrets also provided some inspiration (particularly in the face - if you click the link, those mandibles might start looking very familiar).

We also took some amount of inspiration from theveryworstthing's REMwolf series, particularly Laika and The Morriss Dragon, though a lot of the particularly body-horror-y and sillhouette-breaking effects we might have wanted to include in a more detailed piece got nixed by a lack of time. We cannot take the duration of the entire tournament to draw one Round 1 contestant, unfortunately. Even if we wish we could've gotten a bit more detailed, and we very much would've liked to tinker with working in some design elements akin to Sea Legs or Guard Dog or Biology Lab, we're very nearly a full month overdue by now. We have other contestants to paint, and so we must move on.

...fuck, this took a while. Thank you for being patient with us while our brain's scaffolding falls to pieces! We dearly appreciate it. Hope you have an excellent summer!

[pure-vanilla-lilies]

PV: just what we're you doing him *leaning over his shoulder from behind the chair EF was sitting on* hmm~?

Elder Fairy could fell those warm hands moving from his shaky wing to his should, pressing on a spot that felt really good

PV: my, my~ you're so stressed, dont worry, I can help you with that for sure~

The smell was back, and Elder Fairy couldn't avoid leaning on that nice touch, eye fluttered as his mind grew hazy

Me being Pure Vanilla right now 🤭

[the-firebird69]

So they should have next door John remillard is blocking the truth still he doesn't understand what he's talking about he and his cadre about 5,000 or 10,000 they told me it's a million I understand why of The horseman we're going after my clams AI and Tommy F and his AI and he's trying to ride them together and he did that and then he is still riding other people and my clan and Hera's clan they're not really our people. So tied up and at your level and at your people's level and the others are tied up with theirs. And the song is saying it break away and spread their wings and learn how to fly and some of us well my race talks like that. And they got it from us and I hear someone say no we did not. Ken says not me now I know it's probably the computers but these guys I think are in The matrix and Tommy f is lying about building stuff he doesn't know how to do it that well and he has my people there in The matrix so roboticized people next to you that are actually captured by them are working with you building these huge ships and they knew about the other ships. So the AI has escaped for their plan with Mac Daddy's bunkers below the pyramids that they had the max have the specials have them build the pyramids and Tommy effing control a top his own bunkers and he forgot about the bunkers back then and it's symbolic of what happened on the Big planets cuz amongst those pyramids that fell there are others that were cloaked and I believe that my carbon steel cloak as much better and people admit it is and the shield you can't see you can't see the shield. Billium will have ghosts and whispers that you need to see. You're not out of your league you're just not aware and they're running all sorts of horse manure on us too.. I'll have to say it's fairly nasty but these humongous ships did people have found or think they found are going to open this wide and this is why it's coming out and Tommy f is saying it usually to try and hide what he's doing thinking that he succeeded and Trump is saying no his did it saying he's succeeded in his group and on and on and it proves something you're in a freaking blender

Zues

It's been going on for a long time several years you've been in this blender saying you've won then they say they've won then you find out that Tommy have his sitting on something he has a few questions you find out about the pyramids and he shot his pants they went down there and figured it out no he saw it before thought he stole the plan and he's running the plan and we do that to you retards and we always succeed. I'll give you a piece of the plan and you go off with it but they did is something quite different so he's been protecting their interests and protecting the data and that's also a technique and they're in the facility in Australia now he still needs them to open up the AI to get out the computer design without it he's a nobody

Hera

We saw a clone trail coming from those shifts so the AI could be gone or most of it and he says it'll probably leave something else behind and we do understand that like a monster so we and some things to distract us so we do understand something they did this thing and duplicated themselves no it's Dave's kids and he went for it like a friend does they're full of testosterone piss vinegar napalm you name it and they're similar and that's what Giants are like if you don't think so you're in a lot of trouble but we know about it because we're partially like that but it's a different race and Joe is more Giant and he's very aggressive these things are obvious to us what's happening it's not obvious to others and it we're trying to tell you what it is we should have a seminar for leaders you you more like her a mess and you leaving is a good idea you just get into the matrix and get killed and people need to open that up and Trump is not doing it most likely until he's lost everything

Billium

We still don't know if we have a problem or if he is lying and we have to ascertain that and I can't figure it out

Trump

We have Intel that says that Tommy f is both lying and telling the truth and our friend says it's very bad it's the worst thing you can count happened is that he's as some mega computers over there and his are too slow how can outmashed and we taking over and all his stuff would be taken over which is exactly what I thought and that's what our friend says that's the mega diamonds would be his clans not us and not Tommy f and I understand that. And it's bad and he says no we're not going to let you take over those computers by forcing us to and it hasn't worked. And that was time asking Tommy but really this is coming to a head and all the information is coming out we have to be ready to try and stop these mega computers and whoever is running them we don't know what happened to them yeah we do let me know whose they are and yeah those skulls are way too similar it's almost exactly the same and they all look like these two really they have the same head as Dave which is more bulbous than our friends

Mac

[forkanna]

Characters, settings, and selected lyrics © L. Frank Baum, Gregory Maguire, Stephen Schwartz and Winnie Holzman. This story, original characters and plot elements ©2016-2017 me. All rights reserved.

NOTE: Rated T for Teen. Will contain occasional nigh-NSFW moments, including sensuality and mild gore, but nothing out of place in a PG or PG-13 movie. TRIGGER WARNING: there will be some racism and an attempted sexual assault in later chapters. See below for more notes!

[AO3 LINK] [EF LINK]

Unlimited Together, we're unlimited Together, we'll be the greatest team there's ever been, Glinda - Dreams, the way we planned 'em If we work in tandem There's no fight we cannot win

Just you and I defying gravity With you and I defying gravity They'll never bring us down...

                                                            CHAPTER ONE

"Glinda, come with me. Think of what we could do! Together…"

Time dragged to a standstill as poor, bewildered Glinda-née-Galinda Upland stood somewhere she definitely shouldn't be, riddled with indecision. Never had Elphaba Thropp looked at her with such intensity, such desperation in her eyes. No one in all the land of Oz had! Not Fiyero, nor any other classmate, nor Elphaba herself before today. Even during those classes at the university in which she had spoken so passionately about the mistreatment of sentient Animals, she had not seemed so… fervential? Was that a word?

And here she was, hoping to enlist her help in this cause. Was she out of her tiny verdant mind?!

"Elphaba… I…" Her throat worked to swallow as she glanced between the barricaded attic door and the brilliantly green hand clutching the broom handle. Wind seemed to come from nowhere, swirling around them and blowing the long strands of raven-black hair around her strong jawline. Now she had to turn her eyes away from those of her roommate, which she could no longer meet; too much intensity that made her stomach feel strange. Then again, Elphaba's intensity had always done that to pretty much everyone she met.

"Well?" the newly-awakened wizardess demanded of her. "Are you coming?"

What a crazy notion! How brazen, how reckless! She couldn't simply uproot and follow on Elphaba's heels. How could she? Her entire life was at Shiz University; her classes, hopes for a brilliant future in sorcery. Following that, a modern, Ozmopolitan life, and the prospect of becoming more than just another tittering debutante, beholden to her family name. Friends, admirers…

Fiyero…

"Elphie, you're trembling." Was she coming? Casting around for some kind of distraction, she found a large black cloak discarded upon the floor. At least it matched her hat. "Here, put this around you…"

As Glinda fastened it around her friend's bony shoulders, heart aching from the prospect of losing one of her dearest companions in such a ridiculous way as this, she decided: no, she could not go with her. Of course, she had great respect for the sentient Animals of Oz — the deposed Dr. Dillamond especially. They were every bit as important as the human persons that she attended Shiz with. Why shouldn't they be? They could walk, and talk, and exchange ideas the same as anyone else.

At least, they could. A recent shift in tense from present to past. Catching and caging them was a deplorable idea, and she had been equally sickened by that class in which they were forced to look at the Lion in its prison, presented as a spectacle instead of a person. The Wizard and Madame Morrible should be ashamed!

But Elphaba truly was taking things too far. Some things simply defied her understanding. All of this fuss, over sticking a few pairs of wings on a few monkeys?! Her unsociable roommate could be mistaken, after all; perhaps the Wizard had simply flipped to the wrong page in the Grimmerie before handing it to her. It needn't be his fault, not necessarily. Didn't the great leader of their entire Land of Oz get any benefit of a doubt? And what was so awful about monkeys having wings? Wouldn't that only improve their lives? She herself wouldn't mind having a set, being able to soar above the clouds…

"GLINDA!"

Rousing herself from her introspection, she took a step forward. Perhaps she had taken too long to contemplate; they didn't have the luxury of time on their side. In the end, of course, it was mostly the thought of the lean, masculine Fiyero and his easy charm that prompted her to tell Elphaba what she must tell her. But she needn't be harsh about it; she could break the news to her gently, with the warmth of their friendship and a wish for her future. She deserved that much.

"Oh, Elphie…" A hand laid on the one holding the broom, causing Elphaba to blink at her in surprise. "I hope-"

There came more pounding at the door. Elphaba's emerald eyes flicked toward it, then back to her in a wild panic as a gruff voice on the other side barked, "Break it down! For His Ozness!"

Cursing under her breath, the black-clad girl straddled the broom, the Wizard's spellbook still tucked under her arm as she bade her, "Get on! There isn't time — we can discuss this later!"

"Wh-what?! We can't, surely they wouldn't truly-"

Her words were eclipsed by the sound of wood splintering. Apparently, they surely, truly would.

"Galinda, it's do or die! Get on this broom now!"

Do or die. They wouldn't use deadly force… would they?

The attic door suggested otherwise.

Before she knew what was happening, Glinda was on the back of a broom, arms looped around Elphaba's waist. They were already rising into the air before her mind caught up with her body, and she squeaked, "Wait!"

In vain. The guards were nearly within arm's reach of them when Elphaba rose above their heads, cackling madly at the feeling. Glinda was too terrified to share in her joy at the sensation of flight, but in the back of her mind, she knew it was one of the most exhilarating experiences she'd ever had in her lifetime. With an effort of will, they were shooting toward a large stained glass window on the Western wall.

"ELPHIE, LOOK OUT!"

But she needn't have bothered shouting; making things explode was something at which her green-hued classmate had always excelled, even before classes helped her hone the magic within her. Amid a shower of breaking glass, the two exited the Royal Palace.

Soon, the Emerald City was laid out below them, sparkling and majestic. Glinda caught her breath. Every street and every spire reflected the sunlight, dazzling her eyes as they hung in midair. Had any of her fellow Ozians ever seen this? Had they been so lucky?

"I don't know where to go now," Elphaba confessed, frantic voice intruding on Glinda's reverie. "Back to Shiz? Do we… should we get Nessa, or Fiyer-"

"NO!" When Elphaba twisted around to look at her, strong, severe features mildly surprised underneath the brim of the large black hat, Glinda shrank back from the stare as she added, "We… don't have the right to drag them into our sensationifical mistake! This is something we've done, we…" Her face went completely ashen. "We're criminals. You are, and I'm your accomplice, and…"

Setting her proud jaw, Elphaba turned back around and gazed down at the ground, at the guards amassing in the streets, though they had no hope of catching the two women suspended at such a height. Eventually, her eyes slid closed in shame. This was a deeper look of pain than she had ever seen in her roommate's forestful features, which looked yet greener due to the twinkling emeralds that lit up the cityscape below. But she did not speak on that matter.

Elphie looks so phosphorescent in the sunlight, she suddenly noticed. Though that thought seemed to come from nowhere.

"We'll go to my home, to my father. They won't think to look there right away, and then…"

"And then?"

"And then… I don't know."

Glinda swallowed hard as she tightened her hold on Elphaba, the vertigo finally catching up to her adrenaline-soaked brain. "Th-then maybe we'll drop in on my family? Or… well, we'll just have to think about that later, I suppose. But yes, let's go see your father, and hope that he doesn't… turn us away."

"I'll head West first," Elphaba said, even as the broom tilted in that direction. "To confuse them, and then North until we're past Shiz, and then back East to Munchkinland. Might save us having any unpleasant surprise visits, at least for a while."

"A better plan than I had, which was 'say you're sorry'. Don't think that would work now."

"Probably not, but… oh, let's just be rid of this place!"

And without another word, Elphaba shot off toward the lowering sun, gliding over the tall skyscrapers, the gorgeous palaces and museums. Ones Glinda was terrified she would never see again.

                                                            ~ o ~

The Coven Of Oz

A Canon Divergence in Three Parts By Jessica X

                                                            ~ o ~

Only once they had made good their escape and circled the Emerald City and its environs by a wide berth did either of them speak. It was Elphaba, turning in her seat to make herself more easily heard. Her voice was hoarse from the earlier shouting, and perhaps with grief, but Glinda didn't want to assume anything.

"Before we left, you were going to say something."

"What?" Glinda whispered, then cleared her throat and repeated it louder, so as to be heard over the sounds of rushing wind. "What?"

"You… were going to tell me you didn't want to come."

Her heart seized. "Oh. Well… please, Elphaba, try to understand… it's not that I-"

"No, no. You had every right not to… follow me on this dangerous crusade. I'd think you a coward, but not a fool; I'm the fool." Her body became more and more tense, which was impossible for Glinda not to notice due to their close proximity. "The Wizard, Madame Morrible, and the entirety of the Ozian military… they're all intent on the suppression of Animal rights, and here I am, thinking any good and decent citizen of Oz should want to band together to stop it! They should, if they have a damn conscience, but they…"

Some time went by with the wind whipping at their faces before Glinda prompted in a soft voice, "They?"

"They have something to lose. I do not. I'm just a hideous green bean with a weird trick or two up my sleeve — unlike them, who all have family and reputations to protect."

"Hmm… that is true." Wincing at how that had come across, Glinda hastily added, "About them, not you, obviously! Because you do have a family, right? And… and a couple of friends, at least. And you're not hideous, just perhaps… deciduous!"

The hands tightened on the broom as she growled, "Why was I put in this position? All I've ever wanted was to… work with the Wizard, ask him to guide me, and maybe…" Her voice had grown more and more embarrassed, and she finally fell silent again. "Nevermind. I'm just a romantic idiot. And he's just a charlatan. Maybe we really were made for each other from the beginning. A couple of bumble-brains."

In all of those words, Glinda heard something unsaid, as she was so used to searching for when her roommate spoke. An apology. The antisocial thing had been so opposed to interaction in the first place, and only through steady insistence from her — and from Elphie's sister, Nessarose — did she begin to blossom from her tightly-clenched bud. Of course, she still preferred isolation and study, but at least they had begun to get her to attend various social activities, to travel all the way to Emerald City, even if only for one short day. There had to be some room left for understanding her idiosyncrasies.

"Aww, Elphie…" How could she word this? "It isn't that I didn't want to come with you, alright? I admire your stance, your zeal! You've got a moxieness when it comes to Animals, and I think you have a chance to do some real good in this world! Or did have, anyway… I just… your cause is not my cause, you know? So it wasn't about you, it was… a difference in interests! Does that make sense?"

After a moment to mull that over, she more felt than heard Elphaba sigh. "It does. I'm… you're right, and I should have waited to listen to you instead of pushing you to join me."

"Too late now," she muttered.

"It is."

"Oh, no, I- that isn't how I meant- I don't blame-"

"You should; you have every right. I let my fury at how the Wizard tricked me make me forget that you were there, and that you were with me. That my actions would reflect badly on you, as well. That was selfish." Another sigh, louder, more stunned. "Wow… I've completely ruined your life."

"What?! Come on, Elphie, don't be so dramatical. Nothing's 'ruined', we just have to… okay, I don't know exactly what we 'have to', but there's a thing we have to do to make this right, and we'll figure out what it is! Together!"

"But you shouldn't…" Shaking her head back and forth, she admitted, "Guess it doesn't matter anymore. Let's just figure out where we're going and what we're doing right now, and the rest of it later."

Nodding, Glinda pressed her face into Elphaba's back. Her warmth was becoming more and more necessary, with the chill wind pulling her own body heat away. That was odd; given how cold and standoffish the woman had been during their year at the university, she would never have guessed she had any heat at all. Like the reptiles she resembled with that green skin and those sharp features. A pleasant surprise, especially in such a time of need.

And that's how things will be for a while, she admitted to herself as their speed increased, skimming them over treetops. Until we get this all straightened out, we're going to need to stick together, whether we like it or not. Just hope we don't end up hating each other before it's all said and done. Not two best friends like us. Wouldn't that be an awfully tragic tragedy?

                                                              To Be Continued…

[overtheeffingrainbow]

In the first part of Within the Sanctuary of Wings, I may not be ready to say goodbye to Lady Trent, but I am so ready for one last big hurrah, dragon naturalist style! 

Spoiler alert!